OUR BABIES.

Otago Daily Times, Issue 15500, 8 July 1912, Page 5

OUR BABIES.

Bi Htokia, PotiHpSefl oodtr tho •ntplH* of tha Pooloty tor the n#illb ol Wotnta lad Oblldra. " It ti wlitr to put op t tenos it tbi top cl t ptetiploi th»n to roiinlaln »» ambilnuM «t the bottom." So many inquiries havo reached us lately for tho art'cles published at tho beginning of last year on Dried Milk and Glaxo that the subject must bo of vital interest in many quarters. Somo of our correspondents liavc suggested that wo should reprint them at once. As it is of tho utmost importanco that babies, if artilicially fed. should have their food properly proportioned and approximated as closely as possible to mother's milk, wo aro printing (lie articles again. DKII'/D MILK. The following letter has been received from the proprietors of (ilaxo concerning tho uso oi'" dried milk" in baby-feeding, and I am glad to publish it verbatim, although tlio views expressed aro not in accord with tho teachings of the Society for tho Health of Women and Children: — LETTISH COXCHRNIXG GLAXO. '■ Wellington, January 16, 1911. To " Hygeia." Dear Madam,—l should bo very pleased if you could make an appointment to meet .me, either at. my oflisc or elsewhere. 1 have been watching your Articles on Habv l'ood for some time with a considerable amount of interest. I havo been in personal communication with Drs Hutchinson and Still in I/or,don, and think I know something about milk. You aro aware that wo are making dried milk in large quantities, but I gather from your article of January 14 that you havo not had "Glaxo" brought under your notice. This is a vnriuiion of the milk, and probably if I Use the word "humanised" as yon havo used it, you will understand that ox AXALTSIS IT (Gl„\X0) WOULD (SIVK ALMOST TIIK KAMI* COMPOSITION AS ItI'MAX MILK. Apart from this question, the |X)int that interested me most was your statement—"The 'life' has Wen heated out of them." (That is" out of dried or otherwise Condensed Milk.) Now, this is a point that Dr Somniervillo, of King's College, London, studied for over six months, and lie was unable to make this statement, I am sure he, ns well as myself, would be glad to have your authority for the above statement. Have you ever, after liquefying the Dried Mi!'- tried to use rennet with it? I would a.so be pleased to know what, authority you havo for saying that tlio living principles aro lacking in tho Dried Milk. If you could give mo half an hour, and sec tho various reports of the lioard of Health. l'"insl)nry. and manv olhers from leading baby doctors in England, 1 think 1 could convince you that the preparation of "Glaxo" is manufactured absolutely to fill all the requirements you desire.

I also notice that von make use of the words—" the. babv digested completely." Wei), I would liko to pointout that tho highest authorities that wo consulted, and under whom we are acting, have pointed out to us that fats are not, iwkstkd in the ordinary sense, but are .utsonr.Kn That is why " Olaxo " is a trinch liettor preparation, anil much easier of diccslion, limn any " humanised" milk. The character of the Cream has baen. changed into a fat, and tho prnteids aro absolutely soluble and digestible. This latter fact has been proved in tho lendinc London hosnital, both on luhies and also in an artificial stomach. We could boast that there is no result to bo found in using Dried Milk as there would be in using even humanised milk. The difficulty of the digestion of the proteids is absolutely overcome. I would liko to have) your assistance in placing this article nioro firmlv on tlio market in New Zealand. Wo liavo not bothered with it so far here. We are using all our efforts in Great Britain, where the population is greater. I hope this letter has not wearied you, Iml 1 have a good eleal more to say. and I would liko an opportunity of saying it REPLY BY "IIYGEIA." In tho second paragraph of our correspondent's letter ho says that his firm makes Dried Milk on a iargo scale, that ho has been in "personal communication with Drs Hutchinson and Still in London," and that lift thinks ho " knows something about milk." Here and in the rest of the letter is conveyed the lonfident assertion not only of-an extensive knowledge with regard to milk in general, but also ths> conviction of tlio writer that more weisht and authority should be attached to his ideas on this subject than to_ what has been said regarding tlio use in infant feeding of 1 dried and olherwiso condensed milks in Our Babies column—from which he differs, especially regarding the claims of tho particular Orio<| Milk which his firm manufactures—viz., Glaxo. Tlio citation of the names of Drs Hutchinson and Still, of 1/indon (apparently again_ referred to in paragraph soven as " tho highest authorities that we consulted, anel under whom we aro acting") is clearly intended to convey the impression that these wolf-known physicians aro with the makers of Glaxo, and at variance with what has appeared in this column. In reality, as I shall show presently, tho roverse is tho ca=e. Hut, ovon if t-.vo eminent doctors did range themselves against tho facts and laws of Nature and the findings of science, the truth would ho in no way affected thereby. It is always a inMako to cloud a simplo issuo by the introduction of misleading or irrelevant matter tending to eonfuso rather than throw Huh!, on points under consideration. As Professor Stanley Jcvons says in his book on Logic (ivhen dentin;; with tho subject, of Fallacious Arguments)—"Wheiovcr uses what is known as AURUMEKTUM AD HnMINF.It (that is. an argument which rests not upon tlm merits of tlio ease, but Ihe character or position of thoso engaged in it) commits this fallacy." However, as I have ventured to hint. Drs Hutchinson and Still aro not in accord with the proprietors _of Glaxo, fn his well-known text-book. "Pood and the Principles of Dietetics," pago 450, Dr Hutchinson gives a table showing tho chemical composition of the " Humanised Mill;" supplied by tho Aylesbury pairy Co.. of London, as compared with Nature's own standard— viz., tl'ia milk of tho human mother. I add three columns showing respectively— (1) the composition of " humanised milk.", prepared in accordance with the rn:ii)cs sivon by tho Society for the Health of Women and Children; (2) tho composition of Glaxo as given on pago 20 of thn "Glaxo Ikhy Book"; and (3) cow's milk. TAIiI.K SHOWING AVKRAOK COMPOSITION OF VARIOUS JIILKS.

The percentage of protoid in human mill; given in llio »l»ve table is somewhat higher than the figures arrived .it by very extensive analyses of mother's milk tuado during the last 10 years. Thus (lio averago is given by I'rofwsor Raudnitz. of Prague, as commonly varying from 1.1 to 1.5 per cent., or, say, an average of 1.3 per cent.—in other words, from a third to a lialf of the proi>orHon found in Glaxo. (!!axo is therefore not, properly t|>caking, a " humanised " milk. On comparing the tilnxo column wiih llio cow's milk column, it will be jit onco realised that the trnco of sugar of milk and creain added by tho manufacturers does not cause the composition oi this particular form of Dried Milk to varv appreciably from ordinary unmodified (fried cow's mill:. Commenting on the Aylesbury's (Jo.'s Humanised Milk, Dr Hutchinson says: "'Hie first contains too little proteid, and tlx? second rather much. No 1 is intended for young mid drlicaio i;:(ttnU, No. 2 lor those who are older ::id stronger. Wo saw, however, that '.iniiin milk does not tend to pet richer in proteid as lactation proceeds, and for that reason lhe preparation o! a stronger milk for older infants is not physiologically totind." Seeing that Dr Ilulehinfon pronotmoes it " physiologically unsound" to givo a habv 2 per cent, of proteid lon tho ground thai 2 per cent, is too much), how can he jKifsibW approve of Glaxo, which shows on analyses 3 por cent. I OVER-TAXINO HABY'S KIDNKYS. Tho essential pur|xw> and work of the kidneys is to extract from the blood, and excrete, tho waste products resulting from the proteid inatori.xls taken into the body. Nature hns designed theeo organs of the right sizo and power to carry out thus important duty, thus riddir.g tho system of wlwt wo know to bo tho most, poisonous of all the eßcto substances poured into tho circulation. Hut, perfcct as the kidneys aro for tho performance of their allotted talk. Nature has not fitted them for doing day after (Liy two or three times tvs much work as she intends them to fulfil Especially docs Naturo resent

Iho overworking of immatnro organs, at the agi- appointed for their most rapid growth and development. Suoh transgressions of her laws, whothor witting or unwitting, nro always followed by punish- 1 mont sooner or later—thoro is an inovita.blo Nomcfis ahead. Tlio. tiny, dclicato kidneys of babies aro not fit subjects for over-pressure. DON'T MOIsTvKY WITH NATURE. Ono of tho first injunctions of Physiology is that which warns us against tho overworking of living structures in tho courso of building, because such overwork gravely interferes with development—over-taxed baby-organs tend to bo stunted later on. Wo oannot ' monkey with Nature " with impunity. Siis may not exact during childhood any apparent penalty for a baby's unconscious disobcdienco to her laws.' lint tho fuluro man or woman whoso kidneys aro renderod specially liable to fail prematurely before or during middle lifo will not, find much comfort in tho coinplaoont parental remark:—" Well,, yon grow up au right, anyway. Tho wrong food wo gave you during infancy didn't scent to do any harm at tho time, so far as we could seo—in fact, you took tho first prizo at a baby show." _ Tho prido of having boon a prizo_ baby; judged merely from the outside, is not much compensation for having, a wrong inside later on in life—for being doomed, my, to Hright's disease. DYSPKPSIA AND CONSTIPATION. I havo mentioned notliing as to t'na harm found to result in practico from abuse of the Digestive Organs' and tlio system generally through the giving of an oxeess of proteid material during infancy. Tho evidcnco on that point is startling and overwhelming, but it must stand over until next week.

X - • P. The N.Z. . = ■I"!*, s ■'•'oclclv's 5 " -i;e S Iluinmil etl J3 .» = Milk. " \ S O l'roleld .. l-a 2-2 l-r. I 3 to IM :s :t-3 Fat .. ..4 3-0 3'5 :i'i to i 3-8 3 9 Sugarof ilill; .. |-7 | 1-2 6'S C to 7 a 81 f." 1